Be Enlightened, Be Empowered, Be EMMboldened

Curious Collusion – Det. Cooper Series

“So did you catch him? You’re here for back-up, aren’t you? Coop? Coop?” Brown appeared at Coop’s side out of nowhere when he walked into the station. His grin beaming from ear to ear. Last time he checked, they were inches away from catching a murderer; scratch that, a serial killer with a suicide fetish. Being a homicide detective that was like a home run or a three pointer that puts your team up by one just before the buzzer goes off, and Brown was gunning to be the MVP. It was a big break for this team! But Coop didn’t speak at first, he only maintained a stone-cold look on his face; the face of a man calculating and associating.

“Back at square one, Brown!” Coop sighed loudly as he dropped himself in his chair. Brown taking his next to him. He flipped through the Nursing home’s visitors’ logs as Brown just stared at him. Brown knew to give Coop a moment when he had been let down by a lead; he was prone to violent outbursts of emotion. Brown had to break the silence, he had relatively good news; news that took them to square two at least.

“Not quite. Autopsy report came back.” Coop’s eyes lit up a little, he sat straight and stared at Brown as he flipped through the medical file on his desk. “Turns….. Out…….” He dragged the lead, searching for the page

“The SEMEN samples?” Coop smiled at how easy it was to get under Brown’s skin. His own personal doormat. He used him to vent and to reassure himself because history had shown Brown to never ever challenge him even when he should have. They were just a team like that.

“Yes. Those samples. And guess what??”

“Brownie!” A nickname Coop used to toy with Det. Brown, “I swear on my mother’s noose…..”

“OK! There are no matches for the sample. Which is weird because…..” Coop cut him off

“It would mean the assailant has never been arrested or even registered in this country. He’s never donated blood or even gone to the hospital for any sort of check-up. He’s a ghost?”

“He is a ghost!”

“Well, spank me and call me pretty, we just uncovered the tale of the serial killing ghost.” The middle-aged men burst into loud hearty laughter; even though they both knew they were no closer to finding Alicia’s murderer than they were when they found her dead in a stranger’s house with her wrists slit.

Three minutes of hearty laughter later, Coop went back to the Visitors’ Logs, chroming each page for something that would blow the case wide open. Even a little inkling pointing toward the killer would have been enough at this point. As he ran through the names in the Visitors’ Log, he couldn’t keep his mind from straying to the thought that he may be wrong. Every few years, a girl kills herself in a strange place, so what? How could that mean there was a serial killer? What if there was no ‘serial killer’ and these ladies just killed themselves as some people are often prone to do? Why did he have this feeling deep in his stomach every time he thought about it? Or talked about it? Why did it bother him so much when he had seen it himself? The arrival of a human being to their breaking point and their choices thereafter were nothing new to Coop. This is something he knew all too well. He was only 22 years old when he came home after a few months away and found his mother hanging from the rail of the staircase. She hadn’t been dead long, maybe an hour or two. He must have still been on the drive there. They had just spoken that morning. She had mentioned a break-up from one of the countless random men she’d seen after Coop was born but she didn’t seem bothered or even torn up about it. She knew he would find her, she did it anyway. She was aware of his character and inability to open up to anyone but her, she did it anyway. She knew he loved her more than anything, she did it anyway. Coop only shed tears while he cut her down. Seeing her body fall from the first floor to the ground with an enormous yet lifeless thud, then covering her with a white sheet, unable to fathom moving her any further, Coop never shed another tear after that. Not at her funeral, not when he spoke about it, not even when he thought about it. He just knew he had lost a large portion of himself when she died, he had cried for the lost parts of himself. He would never cry about it again. He would never be the same man again. He joined the Police Force soon after that and the rest was history. Till he met Jill. Jill! His mind screamed. Cooper gathered the remaining unexamined Visitors’ Logs and left suddenly without a word.

Whitney Houston was belting out notes perfectly in Cooper’s car. He drove out of the station to the apartment complex with one thing on his mind. “Jill can fix this. Jill can fix me.” He parked his car close to the one he bought her about a year before. He could tell it hadn’t been driven in a while, he could tell by the layer of dust he had distorted when he ran his finger across the car’s top. However, It didn’t bother him; at least not as much as it should. When he bought it, he knew she wouldn’t drive it. It was just another gift he used to dissuade his guilt from forcing him into doing what he knew he had to do. Jill was a patient woman, more patient than he knew people to be. He couldn’t believe it at times. For five years, this woman stood by him, with her budding youth, no real title or recognition and even less in terms of respect. He was an old stubborn man, he knew it, he carried himself the way he did because of it. He had always expected her to leave him, walk off into the proverbial sunset rendering him just a messy part of her history. And she did, over and over again. She also came back over and over again too, holding no grudges, asking for no apologies.

The bond that held them was deeper than marriage he thought, it was pain. His pain which caused hers and her pain which caused his. Still, she brought herself back, she waited for him to get over himself even if it was for a second. It’s what she lived for; the few seconds when Coop opened up and revealed Denny to her. He didn’t bring her a gift this time; he knew that was not what she wanted. He brought her what she needed; Him unraveled and conflicted enough to open up. He smiled to himself. This could be it! This could be the moment that solidified their bond and erased their painful past. This was their metaphorical wedding day. Coop winced as he stared at her door. Another line of thought emerged. Did she want to get married? Would she really be as open to him when he came undone? Could he really give her what would satisfy her? She was older now, probably less hopeful, maybe less forgiving. Was this a bad idea? He did need her, but did she really need him? Coop’s mind screamed insecurities and possibilities at him. He knocked anyway.

The heavy door flung open seconds later. Jill stood there smiling, genuinely just happy to see him. He saw no grudges, he saw no resentment. All he saw was the sparkle; the one he had grown to call his sparkle. The sparkle that came to her eyes whenever she saw him. The sparkle that reassured him of her forgiving nature and her pure heart. His sparkle. Even though she was dressed down for a day indoors, her beauty still took his breath away. In old sweats, no makeup and that smile, he saw through the grime that life had accumulated on her face, the subtle wrinkles, and chapped lips. He saw the love that she had yet to give and the care she was yet to share. This woman was his woman and she understood him enough for him to never have to have him say it out loud. Looking at her face, he was overwhelmed. He suddenly had the urge to do what he didn’t believe in. It was only right.

“Look! I’m an ass……… a jerk. I’m sorry.” She did not say a word, she just hugged him then let him in.

“We shall not linger about in the past.” She said as she offered him a seat, “What’s up?”

“Nothing’s up. I just came to see you and apologize.” Coop lied

“You’re lying. “ She knew.

“I am.” Coop admitted, “It’s the case.”

“What about it?” Jill leaned in inquisitively.

“Well, I thought I’d cracked it. I really did and you know I’m never wrong when it comes to such stuff.” Coop hesitated then tried to change the subject by touching her face. She held his hand against her face before putting it back down, she knew what he was trying to do

“Then??”

“I was wrong.”

“The problem is that you were wrong for the first time in your career?” Second?

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then what is it, Coop? You can tell me. You know you can” He pulled her across the sofa towards himself so that her legs crossed over his thighs. He looked at her and hesitated. She smiled, reassuring him that his weaknesses did not matter to her. She was ready to listen even more so to help.

“I think I’ve been compromised, emotionally. It feels like I only went after this case cause of my mother and how she died.” He paused, looking straight in her eyes, “Like I didn’t want it to be a suicide so I convinced myself it wasn’t. “

“I get it.” He gave her a look that said you do? She nodded. “You didn’t want her to die that way, by her own hand. So you juxtapositioned that onto the girls. “Cooper burst out laughing

“I juxtapositioned it?? Where the hell do you get this stuff! I’m pretty sure that’s not the word you want. You mean…….”

“You know what I mean! My point is; give yourself some credit, Coop! You’re a smart guy and a darn good detective. You had a gut feeling and just because a lead didn’t pan out, doesn’t mean you are necessarily wrong. You know this! You’re just a little thrown off because of personal experience. It’s allowed for some, but not you. You are objective and neutral. I don’t think you should give up just yet.” He hung on her every word, wanting to believe it all. He felt each word touch a part of his broken heart and mend it.

“I don’t know. There’s a lot hanging on this. If I mess it up, I could lose my job and so could Mitch.” She took his face into her hands and looked deep into his eyes as if she was not speaking to him now but to his soul

“What if it was me, Coop? “ He was quiet. “It could be. That’s why I need you to catch that bastard.” He smiled pulling her chin gently towards him to kiss her. Under his breath, he whispered, “I’ve missed you. “

When Jill woke up, Cooper had already made coffee. He was sitting at the kitchen table going through the Visitors’ Logs.

“Morning Sugar……..Ray Leonard. You did some punching in your sleep. Unfortunately, I was the bag.” Coop joked while he got up to kiss her good morning. Jill giggled at herself

“Is that why you’re up so early?”

“No. That case was stuck in my mind. Been up since 3 am. But I think I found something. I also have to leave.” He hastily kissed her goodbye before walking out and shutting the door heavily. Jill’s heart sank with the bang.

Coop took a minute to appreciate his reconciliation with Jill before he sped off to the station. Brown arrived just in time to see Coop arrive and notice he hadn’t changed his clothes since he abruptly left the station the day before. Coop’s face yelled determination and focus. Brown decided against bringing up the walk of shame.

“I found something, Brown” Coop said while they walked into the station.

“Well?? Tell me what it is!” Coop was quiet. He led Brown to one of the interrogation rooms. “Are you going to tell me? Am I the new suspect? Why are we here, Coop?” Coop still did not speak. He peeped around, made sure no one was around then closed the door. He set down the visitors’ logs he had been carrying around.

“It’s big, Brown.”

“How big?”

“Bigger than our pay grade. Bigger than the Homicide Division. Bigger than the Chief”

“That big? Show me!”

“Are you sure? Because when you see this, you can’t unsee it. “

“Yes, Coop! Spit. It. Out.”

“Ok look here.” Coop opened up the logs. “Louis Manning almost always gets one visitor. Only one. The whole time he’s been in the nursing home. This man!” Coop pointed it out on the page. “See his name?”

“Leonard?” Brown answered naively.

“No his last name! Leonard Harris. That’s the mayor’s son. “

“The mayor doesn’t have a son and that last name is pretty common.”

“No. During his first election, he lost, there was a story that broke of his estranged son who had lived with his mother and her husband. They never realized his picture but they did say his name. It was Leonard Harris!! Then look here!” Coop turned the pages so fast, Brown would have sworn they’d tear. “The only other visitor the mayor himself! And he came with his son. Here, Charles and Leonard Harris! ”

“Ok, so they visited him. So what?”

“I know. So, I called the Rookie and had him look into a few things. Like who funded Louis Manning’s years in exile? It was Charles Harris. Who is Leonard’s mother? Martha Manning. Leonard is the lost Manning half -brother! And finally, guess when he changed his name! Oh, you got it! After Estelle Died. How’s that for ‘so what’ Brown?”

Brown stood completely astonished for a few seconds before he belted out gloriously, “We just blew this case wide open!”

“I blew the case wide open. You? Helped.” Coop said as he left the room.